Naira Slips to Four-Month Low of N1,609/$1 at Official Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira weakened to a four-month low against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday as it traded at N1,609.29/$1 compared with the preceding day’s rate of N1,603.80/$1, representing a decline of N5.49 or0.34 per cent despite recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilise the ecosystem.

The daily supply of FX as measured by secondary data from FMDQ Securities Exchange indicated that turnover rose by $37.54 million or 28.6 per cent to $168.63 million from $131.09 million.

This happened as the CBN made another Dollar sale to 29 authorised dealers, totalling $148 million conducted on July 22 and 23, 2024, aiming to provide much-needed stability in the FX market. It was sold between N1,470.00$1 and N1,510.00/$1. 

It also said it would continue providing liquidity support to various segments of the official markets over the next couple of weeks, bolstering the market.

But the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by 82 Kobo to sell at N2,061.60/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,062.42/£1.

However, the Nigerian currency followed a different route against the Euro after it lost N4.13 to quote at N1,740.81/€1 versus the previous day’s value of N1,736.68/€1.

The Naira closed flat against the US in the parallel market yesterday as it remained unchanged at N1,595/$1.

The cryptocurrency market was bullish amid increased transactional activity and booming expectations of a possible exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Solana, which went up by 4.3 per cent to sell at $184.86.

Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped 3.7 per cent to $0.1343, Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $68,094.50, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 1.3 per cent to close at $586.74, Ethereum (ETH) increased by 0.2 per cent to $3,268.47, and Cardano (ADA) grew by  0.1 per cent to $0.4169.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 1.0 per cent depreciation to settle at $0.5992, and Litecoin (LTC) went down by 0.3 per cent to $71.38, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.